Scholar of the Month

Kent State University’s Scholar of the Month for December would prefer that you read this standing up, or even doing some calisthenics. Go on, get moving.

Jacob Barkley, Ph.D., is an associate professor of exercise science in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services. During his 10 years with Kent State, he has earned a name for himself as a scholar who wants to get people thinking about how they move, and moving better so they can think better.

Jacob Barkley (left), associate professor of exercise science in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services, oversees research activities with several students in a classroom in the MAC Center Annex.

Kent State University’s Scholar of the Month for December would prefer that you read this standing up, or even doing some calisthenics. Go on, get moving.

Jacob Barkley, Ph.D., is an associate professor of exercise science in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services. During his 10 years with Kent State, he has earned a name for himself as a scholar who wants to get people thinking about how they move, and moving better so they can think better.

Jacob Barkley (left), associate professor of exercise science in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services, oversees research activities with several students in a classroom in the MAC Center Annex.

Scholar of the Month
Jessica Barness
Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design
College of Communication and Information
2012-present

The word “communication” likely makes you think of language, but November’s Scholar of the Month has spent her entire career researching design as a language of its own.

Across various media, Jessica Barness, an assistant professor in Kent State University’s School of Visual Communication Design, creates her own design-based research model that merges the making of artifacts with critical inquiry.

Kent State University’s Scholar of the Month for December would prefer that you read this standing up, or even doing some calisthenics. Go on, get moving.

Jacob Barkley, Ph.D., is an associate professor of exercise science in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services. During his 10 years with Kent State, he has earned a name for himself as a scholar who wants to get people thinking about how they move, and moving better so they can think better.

Jacob Barkley (left), associate professor of exercise science in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services, oversees research activities with several students in a classroom in the MAC Center Annex.

Scholar of the Month
Jessica Barness
Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design
College of Communication and Information
2012-present

The word “communication” likely makes you think of language, but November’s Scholar of the Month has spent her entire career researching design as a language of its own.

Across various media, Jessica Barness, an assistant professor in Kent State University’s School of Visual Communication Design, creates her own design-based research model that merges the making of artifacts with critical inquiry.

“I’m interested in the multiple facets of design,” she said. “Design is social, and it’s a professional practice as well as a scholarly discipline. We’re designing artifacts and experiences, but we’re also building the new knowledge necessary to inform and lead those activities. Research through design can be used to better understand people, phenomena, theories or technologies. By approaching design as a sort of hybrid practice, our students learn how to adapt to future needs within our society.

Scholar of the Month
Jon Yoder
Associate Professor of Architecture
College of Architecture and Environmental Design
2013-present

Paul DiCorleto, Kent State University’s vice president for research and sponsored programs, likes to say that “innovation occurs where fields collide,” and October’s Scholar of the Month is certainly a testament to the idea that has become the university’s new research tagline.

Jon Yoder, Ph.D., associate professor of architecture at Kent State, teaches a seminar in the new Center for Architecture and Environmental Design.

Scholar of the Month
Brian Castellani
Professor of Sociology
Kent State University at Ashtabula
2002-present

The Kent Campus is big, but still not big enough to fit all the great scholars who are part of the Kent State University family.

So much of Kent State’s great research is happening at its Regional Campuses, and Sociology Professor Brian Castellani, Ph.D., of Kent State University at Ashtabula is just one of the shining examples.

Scholar of the Month
James Tyner
Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
1997-present

Selecting a single renowned scholar from Kent State University’s largest college is not an easy undertaking, but the work of Geography Professor James Tyner, Ph.D., over the past year made the decision a little bit easier for the College of Arts and Sciences Dean James Blank, Ph.D.

Scholar of the Month
Michael Fisch
Assistant Professor
College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology
1999-present

With faculty like Michael Fisch, Ph.D., on hand, it is no wonder that Kent State University identified materials science as an area of research focus. Nor is it hard to see why Fisch, an assistant professor in the College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology, is July’s Scholar of the Month.